Separation and Reunion
by UnknownQuantity
Summary: Mass Effect 2: Liara and Naomi Shepard are separated in the most definitive way possible: Shepard's death. How to rebuild a relationship with someone back from the dead? Liara/Femshep non-plot intrusive romance additions rather than story changes.
1. Chapter 1

Preamble: Hello Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to another fanfic. Bet some of you thought I'd vanished but no; instead I've been busily working on finishing ME2 again and making a start and drafting a plan for the ME2 part of my "expanded romance" work in which I elaborate on some of the events you don't see when playing through.

This is going to be slightly different to my previous work. Each of my ME1 fanfics were designed to be semi-independent. They were best read together but acted as independent short stories. Mass Effect 2 is a little different and provides an interesting mixture of challenges and opportunities. Of course I'm referring to the fact that Liara isn't actually a squadmate in ME2 and is divorced from a fair bit of the main part of the story until Lair of the Shadow Broker (which has been designed to be played after finishing the Suicide Mission). This has meant I've had to very carefully plan out the key milestones in advance before even starting, however it has also provided opportunities for a variety of emotions that I'd like to bring out through this series.

In light of that, for ME2 i'm writing one story in multiple chapters as opposed to several interlinked short stories. I hope you enjoy it. Quick shout-out to my wonderful editors once again, Luxure and moreeman06 on the BSN, who thought I'd given up on any more fanfic because of my silence whilst finishing ME2 and drafting the ME2 parts. Also massive credit especially to moreeman06 for giving me the idea for the overall title of this ME2 work. And once again thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave feedback!

As ever this stuff is designed to fit in and around the storyline. It should not contradict or detract from it at all and if it does it means I've messed up somewhere. Any mistakes or contradictions please contact me so I can fix them up. Also a fair warning: this one can be a little sad.

* * *

**Chapter One: Loss**

Naomi grunted slightly in pleasure and writhed a little. She was naked and lying on her front on the bed in her cabin, head resting on her arms.

"Don't move," said Liara, imperiously, massaging Naomi's shoulders and back with sure, deft touches; her hands playing across the pale skin gently but firmly. It had been a long few days and Naomi had been constantly in and out of her armour with little sleep; she was tired and her muscles were tense.

"I can't help it…just so good…"

"If you move I can't do it properly," chided the asari. "But if you want me to stop…"

"NO! Don't stop…just…ugh."

"Then stop moving."

Naomi lay there and closed her eyes, forcing herself to remain still as Liara gently released the tension from her body. It was a month after the battle for the Citadel. She still had nightmares sometimes but thanks to Liara they were no longer as bad as they had started out. Being able to let go of everything once in a while and just let Liara take charge of her, even if it was only in private, was comforting and liberating. Without that release she may well have crumbled under the pressure.

Naomi was drifting off into a contented slumber when there was a quiet beep, an alert notifying her that someone wanted her attention despite the privacy block on her quarters. She didn't react, unwilling to break her reverie. After a few moments Liara hesitated.

"Are you going to get that?"

"No."

Liara didn't respond and eventually Naomi sighed, freed an arm and hit a button on her side table. "What?"

Joker's voice came through the communications system, an apologetic edge to it. "Sorry if I interrupted anything Commander. Thought you should know we'll be at the next location in a few minutes."

"Great. Talk later." She shut off the comms and settled down again. "Where were we?"

Liara was still just sitting there. "So aren't you going to get ready?"

"What for?"

"In case the scans pick up anything and we have to go down there?"

Naomi shook her head. "No point, we've been at this for four days now. No contacts, no geth, nothing. What will happen is we'll scan for a bit, find nothing again and then start heading to the next point. Like we have done multiple times already. I'm getting sick of putting my armour on and taking it off for no reason."

"But what if…"

"Look, I know why we're really out here. The Council is still trying to pretend it was just a Geth attack on the Citadel; they don't want to believe the truth so they send me off on this search to get me out of the way. I can't do anything about it if I'm off on a wild goose chase and there's very little chance of us actually finding out what has been causing ships to disappear. They know it and I know it, so what better way to keep me officially occupied whilst they make up their own story? Besides, if we do find any Geth I'll send someone to tell them that they can damn well wait for you to finish with me."

Liara smiled. "Even so I still think you should take this more seriously. I'm stopping for now. Come on," she patted Naomi's behind and stood up, tugging the wrinkles out of the legs of her combat bodysuit as she did so.

Naomi turned over, her face a mask of distress, hardly able to get the words out. "But I…we…you can't do that to me! I'm sure there are some rules somewhere about cruelty to Spectres…" Her voice was so full of despair and she looked so upset that Liara couldn't help laughing. With an apologetic smile she leaned over Naomi and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"If you're very good and take this seriously for a bit then I'll make it up to you later," she whispered before straightening up again. Naomi grinned wickedly.

"Fine I'll do it, but I'll hold you to that promise. And it'll need to be good to make up for being such a cruel asari." The Spectre stood up and picked up her own bodysuit, suddenly businesslike. "You'd better go get your armour on as well. If it turns out there IS something then I'll need you ready."

Liara nodded. "Right away, Commander." And left the room.

Naomi was just strapping on the last of her armour when Joker came over the communication system again, this time on the override channel. "Brace for evasive manoeuvres."

She managed a "what the…" before the ship lurched to one side violently, then to the other and an explosion rocked the Normandy. Naomi regained her balance and made for the door.

"Joker! What the hell are you doing to my ship?"

* * *

Liara ran down from the CIC and through the crew deck as parts of the ship exploded all around her, her armour strapped in place. Crew members were dying all around. She sprinted past the sleeping pods to where Naomi was fiddling with a console amidst the growing fires.

"Shepard!"

Naomi finished what she was doing and they both put their helmets on as the smoke build up became too much to breath easily. She turned around, as tranquil and in control as if it was just a normal exercise.

"Distress beacon is ready for launch."

Liara was anything but calm, but Naomi's manner had a calming effect on her.

"Will the alliance get here in time?"

An explosion nearly knocked Liara off her feet but Naomi caught and steadied her before she fell.

"The alliance won't abandon us. We just need to hold on," Naomi replied, letting go and picking up a fire extinguisher and tossing it to Liara. "Get everyone onto the escape shuttles."

Liara started working on some of the fires, relieved to have something useful to concentrate on. "Joker's still in the cockpit. He won't evacuate." She paused for just a moment and, forcefully, stated. "I'm not leaving either."

Naomi's voice was still as steady as a rock. "I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker." She made her way over to check one of the circuits.

"Shepard…" pleaded Liara but Naomi interrupted and looked directly at her.

"Liara. Go. Now."

Liara gave in. "Aye, aye." She hurried off; trusting Naomi's confidence and capabilities would get them out of this. Running for the escape shuttles through the fire and the fire suppression fluid pouring from the sprinklers in the ceiling she was scared, not for herself but for Naomi. But there was nothing to be done, she had been given a job to do and would do it, for her Commander's sake.

She reached the hatch of one of the rescue shuttles and started to hurry people through it. "Everbody in. Go, go, go!" There was another explosion and she watched in horror as a junior crew member was thrown like a rag doll against a bulkhead with a scream. Liara hesitated, wondering whether to try to help but it was clear she was dead and so the asari instead turned to the shuttle and pulled herself inside, strapping in. The doors slammed shut and there was a clanking and hissing sound as the emergency systems started up to peel back the hull panel to reveal the launch tubes on the side of the Normandy and then a sudden jolt of acceleration as the engines cut in, propelling the small craft away from its dying mothership.

As soon as the acceleration of the shuttle was spent Liara immediately pushed off the crash harness and went over to the window. She watched as the beams from the attacking ship cut through the Normandy's armour like a hot knife through butter; parts sheared off and explosions wracked the length of the ship as it finally broke up.

She felt a pain inside that was nothing to do with the G-forces of launch or the vibrations resulting from the explosion. It was a sudden emptiness and she knew with a sick feeling that her instincts were right. But she had to be sure; she reached for the communications equipment and activated it.

"Joker, you there?"

He was hesitant. "…yeah, yeah I'm here…"

She tensed. "Commander Shepard?"

There was no response.

"Naomi?" she insisted.

"Liara..I…I'm sorry…"

Liara didn't hear any of what he said next, instead collapsing to the floor of the lifepod. She felt as if hell had opened up beneath her feet and swallowed her; her chest felt hollow as if someone had torn her heart out, which in a way they had.

"I promised I'd make it up to her," she murmured, her face expressionless as she stared at her hands.

* * *

It was still early in the day cycle and Liara sat alone on the Presidium, looking over the lakes. She had been doing so regularly in her free time since returning to the Citadel a week previously. The survivors had been rescued quickly and treated for injuries; some had made it but not all. Since then there had been little to do aside from a variety of debriefings and interviews which were expected to be finished within a few days. Not that any of them had been able to provide any useful information; nobody knew who the attackers were or why they had attacked.

She sighed; they had been offered whatever they needed: medical attention, counselling, accommodation. The latter was something that had proven useful. She was lost and at a loss for what to do; drifting through the days only half-awake, her nights fitful and lonely.

The waters were glistening in the artificial sunlight and a gentle breeze was playing through the branches of the trees, but Liara didn't notice either. Nor did she pay attention to the people moving to and fro. None of it mattered. She simply stared with empty eyes out across the Presidium; not crying, never crying, her heart was too broken even for tears. She was simply dead inside, everything locked away behind impenetrable barriers.

Objectively it was quite interesting, she thought to herself dispassionately, it was a fact that Naomi would die before she did and it was something that, as a rule, asari accepted culturally. However it all felt wrong, it wasn't supposed to happen that way, not to her first love. Not like that. One minute blissful happiness and the next everything gone. It felt so meaningless…an unknown attacker appearing from nowhere and just taking her away. Not for the first time she wondered if it was all just some horrific dream and she'd wake up any moment alongside her beautiful human lover.

For a moment Liara's sapphire eyes focussed with a glimmer of recognition on Joker and Dr Chakwas who were strolling along the opposite side of the lake to her. Each of the crew had been affected differently. One example was Tali, who had become more talkative and sociable, evidently wanting the company. Furthermore Ashley had lapsed back into how she had been after Virmire, sullen and irritable. They were bad enough but Joker was in a much worse state; he blamed himself, not just for the Commander but for all of it, and kept second-guessing the decisions he'd made. Perhaps the only one worse than Joker was Liara herself, though she hadn't spoken about how she felt to anybody, it was too personal.

The breakfast in front of her was untouched. She had a vague recollection of having ordered it but hadn't eaten any of it in the two hours she had been sitting. Eating had no pleasure to it; she never tasted any of the food and could only manage it when her body demanded sustenance. Someone sat in the other chair at her table but she was lost in her thoughts and paid them no mind.

After a few minutes they interrupted her daydreaming. "Liara."

She blinked and looked over. "Tali? What's wrong?"

Tali just stared at her. "Funny…I could ask you the same question. Though there's no point asking, I know the answer."

Liara narrowed her eyes. "You know what answer?"

"Keelah…do I have to spell it out?"

The asari looked away coldly. "I'm fine."

Tali spoke quietly. "No…you're not."

Liara didn't respond, instead staring at nothing.

"Talk to me."

Liara turned to her again with a sneer and an angry glint in her eye. "What do you want me to say? Something about hurting now but getting over it, because that's what asari do? Or perhaps something about treasuring the time I had?"

"Now I KNOW it's serious," replied Tali calmly. "Liara, this isn't you; you're not like this. You might not be able to talk to the alliance people, but I'm your friend…and Shepard's. At least talk to me."

Liara suddenly felt slightly ashamed of herself. What was she doing? "I…I'm sorry Tali," she said meekly.

Tali shook her head. "Don't apologise, just talk to me."

"I don't think I can, I…" Liara swallowed. "I just don't feel anything. I feel hollow, like nothing matters anymore. It seems like there's just nothing to do, I don't know where to go from here."

The quarian began speaking as if to herself. " 'When lost amidst the darkest black of the void, or amongst strange worlds far from home do not despair or doubt, for by moving forward you will find your path and each step brings you closer to where you must be and what you must do.' " She looked at Liara who was staring at her wordlessly. "A quarian wrote that many years ago after returning from his pilgrimage as advice for future pilgrims; the Rayya's Captain quoted it to me before I departed on mine."

Liara just sat, still staring. Tali continued after a few moments.

"Liara, you're lost. You need to face this down and then you will find your path again. But if you stay where you are, you'll stay lost."

The asari stood and leaned on the rail, staring down at the floor. "Are you saying I should just try to forget…?"

"No," interrupted Tali, getting up herself and standing alongside. "I'm saying that you're blocking everything and everyone out, even your own feelings."

"But I don't feel anything."

"Only because you're blocking it off." Tali reached over to rest her hand on top of Liara's and lowered her voice. "It's ok to be scared of it all, Liara…but Shepard wouldn't have wanted to see you like this."

With those simple words Liara's subconscious defences just melted away and tears streamed down from her sparkling blue eyes. Tali put her arm around Liara comfortingly. More than a week's worth of pent-up grief, anger and misery flooded through her as she sobbed uncontrollably.

After a few minutes Liara was spent. She had never felt so exhausted in all of her life, nor more unhappy or miserable. But there was also a sense of relief, the tension that had built up over the previous week and the empty feeling was gone. She felt awful, but at least she was feeling something again. She wiped the last of the tears away.

"You're right, Tali," she said with feeling. "Thank you."

Tali just patted her on the shoulder and turned to leave. "If you want to talk, you know where to find me. I should leave you with your thoughts."

Liara nodded her thanks and turned away, lost in a whirl of memories.

* * *

That night Liara was back in her room sat in front of her terminal. Despite her lack of enthusiasm she had not been completely idle since the attack. She had feelers out across the extranet trying to find out something, anything about the attack. It was difficult, there was so little to go on.

Now, however, she had more drive. This was something she could do. She would find out about the people who attacked them and then…well actually she didn't have any more of a plan than that. But Liara was sure that when she had more information she'd be able to work out the best thing to do with it. It felt good to have something to focus on.

Unfortunately, in spite of her new-found drive the search was turning out to be as fruitless as her previous attempts had been. There was nothing even approaching a lead of any description. Lots of speculation and conspiracy theories but little evidence and less actual information. She even had access to a lot of alliance communication, but that was almost as bad as the extranet speculation.

Liara sighed in frustration and leaned back to stare up at the ceiling. This felt pointless but she couldn't think of a better way of doing it. From the Citadel she was well placed to do this but it was so sparse. She wanted to DO something, not sit staring at yet another pet theory dreamed up by some crazy salarian dosed up on Hallex.

Perhaps tomorrow, she thought to herself, I'll do better after a proper night's sleep. Liara sat up and reached for her keyboard to shut down the terminal. An alert was flashing in the lower corner of the screen, a message in her inbox. She sighed and made to close the alert before shutting down the terminal, whatever it was it could wait…but then she hesitated, suddenly curious. Rather than closing the alert she opened the message instead and started scanning it.

She immediately knew this was something quite a bit more important than anything else she had come across. It was a transcript of a conversation between a Blue Suns mercenary leader and his second discussing a major and legally risky contract. That wasn't anything out of the ordinary; however a few lines in the middle were particularly interesting.

"Hmm…body of Spectre…" Liara muttered, reading parts to herself. "Not sure if alive or dead. Who cares when the pay is this good…what's special about this human…"

Of course she'd heard similar things on the extranet before and they were usually part of one of the conspiracy theories. However this wasn't some conspiracy garbage, it was clearly a classified Alliance transcript. The address had been scrubbed clean although it had an Alliance military signature attached to it; however there was a note at the bottom and she turned her attention to this.

'Doctor T'soni,

I am aware of your attachment to the Commander. My sympathies. This was provided by one of our field agents. However the Alliance cannot do anything on one piece of unclear information. Our hands are tied by the Council with red tape; but I felt you should know. I hope you understand.

Good luck,

-H'

She exhaled, slightly wide-eyed. This…this was a lead. Not much of a lead but infinitely better than anything else she had come across. And apparently classified Alliance spy information as well, this was the good stuff not the rantings of some conspiracy crazed idiot. It was the closest she was going to get to solid information given all that had happened, and was considerably more than she expected to ever find.

Liara considered the information for a moment and decided to sleep on it. Tomorrow she would gather every scrap of information possible and chase every lead opened up and the day after she would leave. It was something she knew she just had to do.

* * *

"Gah!" shouted the turian in pain as Liara slammed him against the wall with her biotics. It had taken a few weeks but she knew she was on the right trail. From that one initial message she had hit upon a comparative wealth of information and teasing out and chasing down the individual strands had been time consuming. It had been worth it, however, with each providing a small piece of the puzzle. She knew a few things for certain now; one was that Naomi had been recovered…in some form or another, the reports were confused on that. Dead or alive, however, Liara knew she had to find her.

Another thing she knew for certain was that this turian information broker had an idea of where Naomi was now. He was a petty criminal, a nobody and a sloppy worker as well; it had been child's play for her to hack his systems after finding out that he knew something. His bodyguard hadn't been up to much either and was now lying crumpled in a corner, unconscious; she hadn't even bothered to take her gun out of its holster.

"This can go two ways," she said sweetly. "You can tell me what I want to know or I can make you tell me what I want to know. I get what I want either way, the only thing that your decision changes is how fast I get it."

"Crazy bitch!"

"Wrong answer." He hit the floor, hard, and then flew back against the wall.

"Alright, alright! Fuck, just don't hurt me again."

Liara tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"

He took a breath. "There's a guy I know. He tells me things sometimes."

"Who is he?"

"Shit, I don't know, not really. I don't like to ask more than he wants to say, the stuff he gives me is too valuable. He's an information gatherer of sorts. Well connected. His details are on my terminal."

She dropped him to the ground and pulled her gun out. "Give me his details, now."

The turian made his way meekly to the terminal and punched in a few commands, transferring his contact's details to Liara's omnitool. She studied it for a moment. "A drell?"

"Yeah."

Liara glared at him. "You better be right about this or I'm coming back for you."

"Believe me, I wouldn't dare."

Liara nodded, left the office and went looking for a public terminal. She had a meeting to arrange and then had to find some way of getting there. Space stations like the one she was on were virtually lawless and full of criminal scum, but there were always a few freelance vessels about she could hire.

It wasn't hard to find a terminal in the port and she threw together a quick message, vaguely worded but direct, and sent it to the contact she had been provided and in the meantime looked up what transports were available for hire. She was expecting some sort of questions from the Drell and was surprised when the reply that came back was only two words 'Afterlife, Omega'.

It was a fairly simple matter to arrange passage to Omega. She had plenty of credits and that was what mattered to these freelancers. In the end she decided on a fairly small, low-profile cargo vessel owned by a rough batarian; ideal for remaining unnoticed. After arranging her passage and fee she sat down to wait until they could leave.

As she sat waiting she looked down at her hands for a few moments. A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she whispered, "I WILL make it up to you, Naomi. However I can."


	2. Chapter 2

Preamble: Thanks to everyone for being so patient. It's been quite a while since I put anything up. By way of explanation all I'll say is I had some personal problems which are being dealt with. Hopefully future updates won't take quite so long.

That out of the way...onto Chapter 2 of this fic. This opens right after the escape from the Project Lazarus facility and covers some of the interluding time (between missions) from there to Horizon. As you'll remember (or not) from ME2 and the Mass Effect Redemption comic Shepard was reconstructed by Cerberus over a two year period after her body was recovered by Liara.

No Liara in this one I'm afraid, it's all Naomi this time and a bit angsty as well. But I hope you enjoy it regardless. As ever it should fit comfortably around events that happen in game and not contradict anything drastically. And please do leave feedback. Thanks for reading.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Resurrection**

Naomi sat back in the shuttle moodily, glaring at the two Cerberus operatives opposite her. She didn't trust them at all but she had no choice but to put up with that. Given that they'd apparently brought her back from death itself in a two-year and evidently ruinously expensive project she knew she should be grateful but she kept thinking back to all that her and her team had found out about Cerberus previously. Their grotesque experiments and their callous disregard for life were anathema to her, not to mention their murder of Admiral Kahoku.

However Naomi was also curious. She'd killed a lot of Cerberus back then; so to put it mildly they'd hardly been on the best of terms. She despised them…and they had to know that. So the question was why? Why had they done so much to bring her back, in the full knowledge that she hated them?

She looked down at her hand. There was some scarring there, a few red lines. They worried her a little; she knew that she'd had to be woken up before being fully recovered and as such wasn't entirely in one piece. But at least she was alive…people did not normally come back like she had. Thinking back to before the first time she woke up on the operating table was painful. Naomi could remember the Normandy breaking up around her, she remembered helping Joker into the escape shuttle and the look on his face as she punched the button to seal and launch it. She remembered cold and pain. Naomi had struggled as air leaked from her suit through a rupture and she choked. Then there was nothing but a blank spot in her memory, she couldn't remember anything…although when she mentally poked at it there was a strange feeling of peace.

Then she had been dragged back into a painful and bright consciousness. A cold, hard bed underneath her in a clean, bright medical facility. Flashes of scenes and conversation, half-heard in her semi-consciousness before blacking out again. There was no concept of the passage of time to any of it. Some of the memories were accompanies by flashes of pain, other times a haze of delirium as drugs flooded her system.

The three of them appeared to be the only survivors from the station, nobody else had turned up at the shuttlebay. Naomi examined the pair of Cerberus personnel. The man, Jacob, seemed to be fairly straightforward; just muscle, security. It was written into everything he said and did. The woman Miranda was much more curious; clearly a capable fighter but not just a body with a gun. She was intelligent and hiding quite a lot but her voice and body language were completely inscrutable and Naomi couldn't get a read on any of it.

She sighed and stared out of the window. They were apparently heading for another Ceberus facility and they'd promised that she'd find out more when she got there, but Naomi was restless. Two years was a long time to be out of it and she wanted to know what had happened to everyone. No…that wasn't strictly true. She wanted to know what had happened to Liara more than anything. Where had she got to…and how would she react to the news that Naomi was alive? The answer to that she didn't know and was, in fact, quite afraid of…would she still feel the same after two years apart? What about the grieving period she would have gone through? Would she have moved on by now, perhaps?

Too many questions and no way to answer them. Naomi wanted to see Liara but knew the worst possible thing would be for her to go blundering in and say the wrong thing. It was going to be difficult and Naomi had hardly come to terms with what had happened herself yet. For now the smart move would be to stay away and try to work out what to do. To work out how she felt and how she was going to deal with Liara when they met.

Mind made up, but not altogether happy with her decision, Naomi leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. It was going to be a few hours before they arrived.

* * *

Naomi left the communications room slightly troubled. The meeting hadn't exactly been what she had expected. She'd wanted to take the opportunity to confront this enigmatic leader of Ceberus but things were very different, and much worse, than she had thought. Entire colonies with no trace, hundreds of thousands of people, how was that even possible? Especially with no proper response to it; surely the scale…even for random remote colonies…would have demanded someone look into it? She shook her head and wandered over to the equipment locker and started idly browsing the armour.

Nobody had though; nobody had the time to care about a few colonies in the ongoing aftermath of the attack on the Citadel. Pirates or slavers, she thought, what a joke. Someone should have noticed, should have cared. She balled her fist and punched the wall in frustration. It made her so angry, the only people who even seemed bothered were from Cerberus and working with them seemed distasteful in the extreme. She knew she had no choice, not if she wanted to try to get to the bottom of it all. Despite Naomi's reluctance if even part of what the Illusive Man had said, and if the Reapers were involved, she had to find out what was going on and put a stop to it. And the only people who seemed likely to offer her the help to do that were Cerberus; after all, they'd spent a fortune bringing her back.

Naomi sat down and pulled out her gun, playing with it as if checking it over. Trusting Cerberus was totally out of the question, she wasn't under any illusions that she was merely a tool to the Illusive Man. An expensive tool perhaps, one that he would want to look after until it could do it's job, but still a tool to be discarded if and when necessary.

She sighed at that thought, it wasn't a particularly pleasant one but it did at least offer some small consolation. So long as Cerberus needed her they would have to do what she told them to and would have to accommodate her demands and listen to her. That could prove useful if things started to get bad, she had the edge over them until this was all over. With a certain amount of reluctance she stood up and holstered the pistol again. After exchanging a few words with Miranda and Jacob she headed for the shuttle. Her concerns could wait, Freedom's Progress couldn't.

* * *

A team, Naomi thought to herself as she stood beside Joker looking at the docked ship. This job was far too big for just her by herself, based on the footage she had seen of people being taken on Freedom's Progress she'd need some backup. The Illusive Man was right…she'd need good people and, assuming he wasn't lying, they'd seemingly have to be a whole new group. It was disappointing but understandable; she had been dead for two years after all, her old team had moved onto new things as Tali on Freedom's Progress had demonstrated. They couldn't just drop everything to come with her, especially since she didn't exactly have much to go on yet.

Despite that she took no small sense of satisfaction at having got one over the Illusive Man; the Quarians forwarding their data like that had clearly surprised him more than he wanted to really admit and he'd changed the subject quickly. For a moment she wondered what Cerberus had done to the Quarians to make even basic cooperation such a shock before filing it away mentally under "find out later".

Naomi was also slightly angry. The fact that the Illusive Man had suspected the Collectors but not mentioned it was frustrating and was an ominous sign of how their relationship was going to go. She didn't trust him at all and if he was determined to play his cards so close to his chest then she never would be able to trust him. The man was dangerous and, more to the point, was putting her and others in danger as well; again, just a tool to be used for whatever purpose he thought necessary. Well she wasn't going to make it as easy as that for him. He wanted her to look into this and she would, but not for his sake. And it was going to be her mission, on her terms, with her rules and the people she would be recruiting would answer to her, not the Illusive Man.

She shifted her weight slightly. It looked a solid vessel, bigger than the Normandy SR-1 but not unwieldly and designed very much on the similar lines to her lost frigate. They'd need a good ship if they really did have to follow the Collector's through the Omega Relay. For a moment she wondered if Tali and the Quarians had been right with the way they had reacted to seeing Ceberus. What was she doing with these people? She should be getting the hell away from them not working with them, she'd shut down several of their operations two years previously. After a few moments Naomi dismissed those thoughts. Cerberus was the only one going after these disappearances. The Alliance was seemingly ignoring it, so were the Council. There was absolutely no way that she could rely on them for resources despite her Spectre status, especially after two years of being formally dead. The Illusive Man certainly wasn't optimistic about her chances of getting their support in any way and she had an uncomfortable feeling that he was right on that one. Whatever she thought of Cerberus they were the only place she was going to get unrestricted resources for this little project. The Council and Alliance were already ignoring the attacks and going to them and saying the Reapers were involved was hardly likely to win her any friends considering how hard they'd apparently been trying to ignore the Reaper threat.

Her thoughts turned to Liara, meeting Tali and Joker again as well as her inquiries with the Illusive Man had stirred up those memories and emotions. Naomi chewed her lip thoughtfully and then shook her head, it was no good. She'd made her decision already; she couldn't see Liara, not yet. Whatever happened it was likely to be a difficult meeting and she told herself that she couldn't afford the distraction; although she also knew she was lying to herself, in truth she was scared of how that first meeting would go. Naomi shook her head to clear it, no point dwelling on that for the moment, she had work to do. Mordin Solus on Omega, his dossier was impressive and picking him up had to be a priority because without him there was no way they'd be able to take the Collectors on in a fight if it came down to it. Not to mention this Archangel character was also supposed to be on Omega…taking on all the scum of Omega at once successfully…that was definitely someone she wanted on her team.

"Come on Joker, let's take a look at her," said Naomi, gesturing to the ship. At least there would be one person she knew she could trust, with Joker at the helm they might navigate their way through this mess yet. And with that comforting thought she made her way off to examine her new command.

* * *

Naomi was exhausted, sitting back in a chair on the crew deck with a mug of strong coffee. Omega…such a crazy place and its quasi-ruler Aria was an interesting character, dangerous but interesting. Add to that the people she'd recruited and it'd been quite a visit. She sipped her drink and considered those she'd picked up, the doctor Mordin had immediately taken over the science lab and got to work. She'd never met anyone quite so energetic, except perhaps Liara when she was in a particularly enthusiastic mood. What was that phrase Kelly had used? "A hamster on coffee"…she laughed at the memory, fairly appropriate actually. The mercenary, Zaeed, well he was your typical hired gun but came across as significantly more dangerous than most. If the Illusive Man thought he'd be an asset then there must be quite some reputation behind him. As for Archangel…

"Hey Shepard," said Garrus as he sat down opposite her.

She grinned. "Hey 'Archangel', how's the face?"

He winced, though whether it was from her use of his cover name or from a twinge of pain wasn't clear. "Been better. Still not used to this damn prosthetic."

"Better than the alternative…hell, I'd have hated to go through all of that only for you to go die on me."

Garrus laughed in response. "Wouldn't want to inconvenience you; although by the sounds of it this little project you've brought me aboard has a pretty good chance of us not making it as well."

Naomi frowned at that. "Does that bother you?"

He shook his head. "If it was anyone else I'd be worried. But I've yet to see anything in this galaxy that I don't think Vakarian and Shepard can't take down."

That brought another smile. "We definitely work well as a team; I don't think we could have taken down three entire mercenary gangs separately. But together…no sweat hey?" She hesitated before continuing with sincerity. "I'm glad you're aboard Garrus. I've got all of these Cerberus people and unknowns working for me now. I don't really know any of them yet, what makes them tick or even if they can be trusted. It's good to have someone from the old days that I know will watch my back properly."

"Anytime, Shepard. Speaking of which…you heard from any of the others?"

She shrugged. "I bumped into Tali on Freedom's Progress. Lots of work for the Migrant Fleet now she's gone back. According to Cerberus Ash is off somewhere classified and Wrex is on Tuchanka. Apparently he's really busy trying to keep the clans in line."

Garrus waited for a few moments. "…Liara?"

"She's...I know where she is," Naomi replied shortly.

"Shepard…"

"Fine. Illium. She's on Illium, happy?"

"Well…what about her?"

"She's busy."

He sighed. "Shepard, I know that voice…why don't you just…"

She cut him off. "No."

"…can I ask why?"

"It's been two years, Garrus…"

"All the more reason to go there."

"No, not yet. Not until I've worked out some things by myself," she sighed. "It's not easy."

He looked over with concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I just…I can't face that right now," she gave him a serious look and an edge of frustration entered her voice. "I DIED, Garrus. I haven't come to terms with that myself yet. I was dead, I don't know how they brought me back but it wasn't easy. Two years is a long time…she's had time to think and to come to terms with that. Seeing her will be complicated and I don't want to deal with it right now. I need time to think."

"She'd want to speak to you anyway," Garrus replied quietly.

Naomi hesitated and looked away for a moment before saying anything. "…I will. Not yet, but I will. Promise."

He reached across and patted her hand. "And when you do, don't worry…I got your back."

She smiled. "I know…and thanks."

* * *

Naomi sat idly tapping through some files on the computer in her cabin. Much bigger and better equipped than the one she'd gotten used to on the old Normandy, and far more aesthetically pleasing. As Joker had pointed out although the military was good for cutting-edge technology they weren't much for comfort or looks, so it was pleasant to have decent quarters for a change.

Quite the motley crew she thought to herself as she browsed the personnel files again. In addition to the two Cerberus operatives, Garrus, Zaeed and the hyperactive Mordin she now had a tank bred Krogan down in the cargo area, an absurdly powerful human biotic criminal nesting underneath engineering and an expert thief haunting the port observation room. It wasn't exactly what she had been expecting when the Illusive Man had said he'd be forwarding her the dossiers of the best people he had files on. Then on top of that this AI installed into the ship, Naomi really didn't know what to make of that at all. On the one hand EDI had been perfectly helpful and courteous so far and had given no cause for concern, although Joker wasn't exactly happy with it. And as a true AI EDI had a personality and was, in effect, a person; and came across as very pleasant in fact. However on the other hand AIs were illegal in Council space for a good reason. The example of the Geth was a clear and present warning to everyone about the dangers of sentient synthetic life. That said based on everything they'd seen so far they'd need every advantage they could get if there was any hope of finding out what the Collectors were up to and stopping them.

With a sigh she looked away from the screen and stared at the fishtank. It had been an extremely stressful time since Omega. First the Council had given her a hard time, they'd let her have her Spectre status back but point blank refused to provide any actual assistance so long as she was with Cerberus. Privately she could understand that, but it was still frustrating. She'd picked up Kasumi on the Citadel as well, but that was the only simple pickup she had because after that it was onto getting Jack out of prison…she didn't even want to think back to that. Naomi shook her head, should have seen that one coming; she'd made a lot of enemies over the years and you could never trust mercenaries like the Blue Suns. They treated their work as a business, not as a profession, and the only thing you could rely upon was they'd take the highest offer even if it meant screwing over their current contract. Then onto the Krogan; she went in expecting to pick up a hugely experienced old Krogan Warlord and came out with…she wasn't exactly sure what she'd come out with. A fully-grown Krogan bred in a tank, imprinted with training but lacking the usual Krogan upbringing, he was extremely violent and completely unpredictable and it was only through her own extensive experience and quick reactions that she'd been able to deal with him after letting him out. That said he was a formidable fighter, and if she could keep him pointed at the Collectors then he'd be an exceptional asset.

Naomi sat back in her chair and sipped at her coffee, thinking to herself about the crazy personalities that accompanied taking only the best onto her team. She wasn't even sure which was the more dangerous; Grunt with his brute strength and volatility or Jack with her absurdly powerful biotics and almost complete lack of restraint. And that's without taking into consideration Mordin's frightening intelligence, Zaeed's decades of experience and Kasumi with her incredible stealth and infiltration capabilities. She toyed with her cup…on the other hand they were all extremely capable individuals, she wasn't at all worried about whether they could go toe-to-toe with the Collectors and surely that's what mattered? After all this was slightly more structured than when she'd formed her first team to fight Saren. With that almost everyone had just…fallen into place almost. It was amazing that it'd all worked out for the best when she thought back to it. She sighed to herself, it was much simpler back then; when she'd started out there was direct Council and Alliance support and her mission of chasing Saren down was much more clear. Something definitely felt very wrong about the current mission, she didn't have a clear lead to go on and didn't like having the Illusive Man feeding her information that he deemed necessary and withholding other things. But short of walking away entirely she didn't think there was any way around that, and for the sake of the vanished colonists she couldn't do that.

It still felt weird to think about how she had even come to be sitting there. Two years…two years technically dead…how are you supposed to feel after being told that? She didn't know but it wasn't as if anyone else would understand either. On the other hand she didn't actually feel any different. She'd just felt pain, blacked out and then woke up again in a medical surgery. Just like she'd experienced with injuries before, like the first beacon in fact. So how was it really any different?

Naomi shook her head to clear it. She'd been worrying about it for far too long but wasn't that all it was at the end of the day? A serious injury that she'd taken and blacked out from, and then she'd been healed and everything was right again. Perhaps it was a rather more drastic injury than others and her recovery had been a lot more complicated than usual but she was still herself. All the neural pathways still connected the same way, the memories and personality intact, the same emotions. Everything still the same as before aside from extra augmentation to repair her damaged body. She was still Commander Naomi Shepard, the first human Spectre.

She sat back in her chair, more relaxed and content than anything she'd felt since first waking up. She was still her…that was all that mattered. Naomi glanced across at the picture of Liara on her desk, thinking and chewing her lip. She was still herself, she'd come to terms with that now, and she still had the same feelings for the beautiful asari. The question now was how to deal with that. Naomi glanced back at the dossier file still open on her computer.

It was Jack's file. Naomi leaned over to examine the computer again. The young woman was fascinating…she wasn't very forthcoming but had clearly had a very hard life. And that hard life had forged her into someone with willpower as tough as steel and an attitude which stuck two fingers up at the entire universe and lived in the moment.

Naomi hesitated. Maybe she could learn something there from Jack. It wasn't that Jack didn't care, not really although she tried to hide it, but she lived for the here and now. If it was worth doing she'd get it done and if not she wouldn't bother. No middle gears or grey area about it. Naomi picked up Liara's picture and stared at it for a few moments. Did she want to see Liara again? Hold her again? Wake up beside her again? Yes. She put the image down again, suddenly decisive. Forget worrying about how things would go between them, it would be difficult and probably not easy but it didn't matter. What mattered was that she wanted to see Liara more than anything. The doubts and questions weren't important in that decision.

She stood up and started to leave her cabin when EDI spoke up.

"Commander, the Illusive Man wants to speak with you."

Naomi sighed. "Can it wait?"

"No, Shepard. It's urgent."

"Fine, I'll be right there."

She shook her head, a little annoyed. The mission had to take priority over everything, so she knew she'd have to find out what the Illusive Man wanted before doing anything else. Naomi balled her fists in frustration as she stepped into the elevator and made a promise to herself; she'd find out what the Illusive Man wanted and deal with it. And as soon as that was done she was setting a course for Illium, because no matter what concerns she had about it she just had to see Liara again.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors notes: I appreciate its been a while since I put anything up. Unfortunately real life has been catching up with me a bit and frankly I've not been able to catch a break with my computer (its constantly breaking down, my new one arrived today). For this I 3 covers the period from the end of Horizon through Illium and Haestrom and up to the Collector ship. Including the first meeting with Liara. In game this is frankly rather poorly done, however I hope my insight into the thoughts going through Liara's head will add a little more colour to it.

I'd also like to take a brief moment to answer a question for something I seem to be being asked an awful lot, including in a review here: 'why are you putting LotSB after the Suicide Mission? Why is it "supposed" to be there?' In short a statement from the writers posted on the Bioware forum by Chris Priestly state that LotSB was written under the assumption that most people had completed the Suicide Mission, and consequently canonically its designed for afterwards. Given that the DLC came out after many had finished the game and because I feel it adds to the story to have to full resolution of the romance at that stage, its what I'm going with in this piece of fanfic.

And finally I'd like to encourage you, once again, to please post a review or send me a message. I DO read them all and I love getting feedback. Thanks for reading.

* * *

**Chapter Three – Remorse**

Naomi almost staggered from the communications room, frustrated and tired. The lab was busy with crew members bringing in samples collected from Horizon, all supervised by Mordin. She gave him a nod and pushed her way through to the CIC, heading for the elevator. Kelly glanced over and almost went to say something before deciding against it and turning back to her console.

A few minutes later Naomi was slumped in a chair in her cabin, having changed out of her combat gear. Without really thinking about it she pulled open a cupboard and took out a glass and a bottle, pouring herself a drink. She sipped at the brandy idly, staring at her fish tank; just watching them swim around had a calming effect and she relaxed slightly.

Her thoughts turned to The Illusive Man. She found him to be truly infuriating and completely callous. Luring the Collectors to a colony like that, just to draw them out and catch them in the act and then to throw her and her team at them in the dark? Not to mention them having to rely on an experimental technique to prevent them from being captured themselves. Naomi wasn't even sure which part of it she found more reprehensible, and instead settled for feeling disgust for his entire modus operandi.

For a moment she wondered again about whether working with Cerberus was a good idea. Regardless of the resources and the fact that it seemed unlikely anyone else would support her in this it was still a huge risk. The Illusive Man increasingly came across as a sociopath and at the rate he was going everyone on board the Normandy could very well end up dead because of one of his 'whims'. She hated feeling used like this but more than that she hated her crew being used like this. Not to mention the way the people of Horizon had been used…they'd saved a lot of them, but not nearly enough. A third of the colony had been taken and for what? Merely to confirm the Illusive Man's suspicion that the Collectors were after her or the people she had worked with. Naomi drained her glass and put it down, eyes narrowing; it was disgusting, reprehensible and direct. It had worked, but the cost for something so simple was far too high.

She turned to her workstation and pulled up the newest dossiers, smirking to herself in satisfaction to see one of them was for Tali. Perhaps the Illusive Man wasn't completely self-absorbed after all. Her handling of the situation on Freedom's Progress had evidently had some effect and having Tali on board again would be good. Another person she could trust implicitly and, truth be told, she missed her; the quarian felt like the little sister she never had. The other two she didn't know; an asari Justicar and a drell. Naomi only had a vague notion of what a Justicar was and had never really known any drell but in fairness to the Illusive Man each and every person he'd recommended to her so far had proven to be a valuable asset…if not always entirely stable. Regardless of his other qualities he evidently had an eye for talent. Naomi opened up Tali's dossier, not that she needed to know more about Tali. The quarian was on Haestrom, a place Naomi had never heard of; but so long as the ship could get them there that didn't matter much. She closed it and opened up the other two and hesitated.

Illium…both of them on Illium. She swallowed, suddenly concerned. Before going to Horizon she was determined to go and see Liara as soon as they were done, and now she had the perfect reason to go there. But now she was slightly afraid again, Ashley's reaction when they had met on Horizon had shaken her a little and made her suddenly doubt her previous confidence. However unlike before there was nothing for it, she would HAVE to go to Illium now because of the new team members she had to recruit. There was no way she could keep avoiding that meeting even if she wanted to; though honestly she wasn't sure either way. Part of her, the part that had been so determined before Horizon, most definitely did but a certain amount of worry had managed to take root in the meantime.

Naomi shook her head. Thinking like that was a pointless waste of time. She knew she HAD to go to Illium now. Besides, in spite of her doubts she still wanted to see the asari. It didn't matter how the meeting turned out, they could work through it; she wanted to see Liara and hold her again. Resolved once more she headed for the elevator again to go down to the CIC to set a course.

* * *

Liara calmly stared at her monitors, eyes darting across the reams of information scrolling down them, mentally digesting certain key facts and ignoring others with a practiced eye. With a flick of her hand she cleared one of the screens and started typing, making notes on things she had noticed. Two years of working as an information broker as well as her natural talent for the work had left her incredibly capable, able to see patterns where others didn't.

She suddenly stopped dead, eyes staring at a minor note on one of her screens. As it dropped off the bottom she blinked and scrolled back, opening up more information. A whirl of excitement and fear suddenly hit her as she read the document more carefully. It was an Illium docking request, just in, and for the Normandy. Liara slumped back in her chair, suddenly conflicted. She had heard things about Naomi in the past few weeks; at first just a few things from uncertain sources on Omega but it quickly developed into formal acknowledgements of the return of Commander Shepard, as well as the reinstatement of her Spectre status by the Citadel Council. The most recent mention was in an intercepted Alliance naval report about a Collector attack on a colony called Horizon just a few days previously. Apparently Naomi had been there and helped fight it off, that had left Liara feeling a little vindicated in her decision two years previously and proud of her love.

Liara had considered several times in reaching out to Naomi. She desperately wanted to see the human who had stolen her heart again. However something always held her back…she had a lot of work to do and debts that, above all else, she knew she had to repay. But more than that was the guilt she felt; the guilt at handing Naomi's body over to Cerberus. It had been her only chance, the only way she could possibly bring Naomi back, and she had taken it despite knowing that Cerberus would use Naomi for their own ends; not to mention the uncomfortable feeling she felt that perhaps the dead should be left to rest. That guilt had eaten her up at first and so she had thrown herself into her hunt for the Shadow Broker.

But now Naomi was coming here of her own volition, although Liara had no idea why that might be. She sat back for a few moments, thoughtful, then reached out to her console and started pressing buttons. A few moments later arrangements had been made; the necessary fees had been paid and documents filed to allow the Normandy to land freely with no problem. It was the least she could do to help out; hesitantly she also typed a brief message and sent it to one of her contacts in the Illium port authority, asking them to pass on the message that she wished to see Shepard.

Liara was plagued by doubt. Would Naomi even come to see her and how would she feel about it? Liara knew that she couldn't just not make the offer but equally she had no idea how Naomi would react to finding out that she was the one who had been responsible for Cerberus getting hold of her body. The asari slumped back in her chair, thinking. Just over two years ago it had been unthinkable that she would ever see Naomi again, and now that she was about to she had no idea what to say or even think. Would she have changed much? Would she perhaps resent what Liara had done? How would she react to Liara's work and her current goal of bringing down the Shadow Broker in revenge for both taking Shepard and trying to sell her to the Collectors and for what had happened to Feron?

So many questions and none of them something even an information broker could easily answer. She could provide an analysis of the weaknesses of Salarian fleet assets in the Attican Traverse, or how best to bring down any of the major trading organisations working out of the Citadel, or even a complete structure of the operations of any of a dozen major criminal enterprises in the Terminus Systems. But working out what her partner would be thinking about what had happened was beyond her. She laughed, harshly, aware of how comical that seemed and then frowned. Would Naomi even want to be her partner anymore? That was a scary thought that she'd ever even considered before. They'd shared something special, she was certain of that, but a lot had happened since then.

A hint of sadness and hurt crept across Liara's face as she thought back to two years previous. To how she had abandoned the Normandy on Shepard's orders and watched in abject horror as it was destroyed. The period after that was just a blur in her memories, a confused muddle of pain and distress which she mentally withdrew from, knowing better than to poke at it. She sighed, that was all in the past now and what mattered was that Naomi was alive and on Illium.

She blinked to clear the tears that the memories had pulled out of her. It wouldn't do her any good to see her love like that. She knew she had to stay calm and controlled, there was a lot riding on the work she was doing and breaking down wouldn't help matters. With a steadying breath she turned back to her screens and started the data feed again, getting back to work. If and when Naomi came then she'd deal with it, until then there was no point worrying herself about anything.

* * *

Liara was distracted when Naomi made her way into the office. The asari was busy talking to someone on a communications screen who owed her a fair amount of credits and was being difficult.

"Either you pay me…or I flay you alive…with my mind…" she finished and shut off the communications device. As she turned she saw Naomi in the corner of her eye, standing there, earlier than she had expected; immediately feeling a flood of emotions that she had been trying to keep in check.

"Shepard! Nyxeris, hold my calls."

A couple of strides brought her to Naomi and she took the human's hand gently. Unable to restrain herself she leaned in close, and kissed her, taking in her love's scent, taste and touch. Then after that brief moment she broke off and looked away, the guilt and sadness threatening to overwhelm her. She stepped away from Naomi and moved to her desk whilst the Spectre stood there; looking shocked and slightly hurt at the sudden change, before coming back to her senses and following.

Liara couldn't put into words what she wanted to say; instead she made a throwaway comment about her sources saying Shepard was alive again. Inwardly she cringed at what she heard coming out of her mouth and quickly stopped herself.

"It's very good to see you," she finished, lamely but genuinely. Naomi's mouth quirked into a slight smile.

"You have 'sources' now?" she asked, a teasing edge to her voice.

Liara almost gave into a blush, but quickly collected herself and responded. She briefly explained how she'd been working as an information broker for the past two years. A stab of pain went through her heart at the reminder of it being so long, but she hid it well.

'_She's right there, just reach out and touch her, take hold of her,' _ran through Liara's mind, but she was slightly scared to do so. Instead she sat down, "And now you're back…gunning for the Collectors with Cerberus."

"If you know that then you know that I could use your help."

For some reason Liara felt a tiny flash of annoyance at that. Naomi was acting as if none of it had been a big deal, as if two years thinking her first love was gone forever was nothing to worry about, as if she could just drop everything and go rushing off again. Liara replied, a little more forcefully than she intended to, "I can't, Shepard. I'm sorry. I have commitments here. Things I need to take care of." Immediately she felt ashamed of herself. _'What are you doing, Liara? Stop it, she just doesn't know what it was like, it's not her fault.'_

"What kind of things do you need to take care of? Are you in trouble?" asked Naomi, clearly worried by Liara's tone and trying to be conciliatory. Liara sighed to herself and forced her emotions back into check, standing to turn to look out of the window.

"No, no trouble. But it's been a long two years…" she paused briefly, considering how much to say. "…I had things to do while you were gone. I have debts to repay." She stopped again, mind racing and wondering how to reach out to Naomi again in some small way; then continued hesitantly, turning back. "Listen…if you want to help I need someone with hacking expertise." She looked pointedly at the Spectre. "Someone I can trust." A tiny nod from Naomi encouraged her to continue and she briefly outlined her plan to hack a few data nodes around Illium.

Naomi looked at her with eyes full of concern. "What's this all about, Liara? Can't you just talk to me?"

Liara felt a surge of frustration but whether it was towards Naomi or herself she couldn't tell. She wanted to talk freely to Naomi and she trusted her completely, and told her as much, but despite being a high and mighty Spectre she clearly didn't understand Illium.

"Hacking a terminal sounds pretty easy. Why do you need me?" inquired Naomi, changing tack.

"I don't know anyone else I can trust," replied Liara pointedly before going on to explain the process in more detail.

Naomi thought for a moment before making a decision. "If it'll help you I'll take care of it." Liara nodded and briefly explained how to go about hacking the terminals.

"Thank you, Shepard. This may help me pay a great debt."

* * *

Naomi idly wandered south from Liara's office, completely lost in her thoughts. The meeting had been different to what she'd hoped; honestly it had been something of a mess. She was confused and conflicted and slightly upset although she couldn't quite identify why. A tumult of seemingly random emotions washed through her in no particular pattern or order. She was happy to see Liara, of course she was, being apart from her partner had been so difficult and Naomi could only imagine what it had been like for the asari over the past two years. But on the other hand the meeting had been a perplexing mixture of messages and signals; Liara clearly still felt things for her, but she was also distant somehow and distracted.

More to the point she seemed reluctant to let Naomi back in just like that. As if Liara was scared of something; a deep kind of worry and pain in her heart, most likely something to do with events two years ago. It was obvious Liara had been heavily involved and she resolved to ask about it after this little job. Despite that, it was something that she didn't think she'd be able to help with much; Liara would have to come to terms with it in her own time, it couldn't be rushed. Naomi simply hoped that with reassurance that whatever it was had turned out for the best, she would be able to do so.

Clearly a lot had happened to Liara over those two years. The confidence the asari had started to discover after taking down Saren had blossomed and a ruthless streak had taken root in her. Naomi couldn't help being fascinated at how the quiet and shy archaeologist had turned into an elite and dangerous information broker and had clearly confronted some terrible pains since they'd last spoken. She was more mature, somehow, despite two years being a relatively brief time for asari.

Naomi frowned at that, she guessed that the shock of their separation and then recovery had taken quite a toll on Liara and she wasn't particularly pleased by that notion. She had never wanted to cause Liara pain like that and had hoped their meeting up again would help to heal some of those wounds. However if anything it seemed to have had the opposite effect. Liara was totally obsessed with something and clearly wanted to tell her, but was holding back as if hiding.

That was why she had agreed to help out with hacking some systems. As a Spectre she sometimes had to do things like this but she was never happy about it, but for her love she'd do anything that she was asked to. Especially since she owed Liara so much, there was a lot to pay her back for.

"Everything ok, Shep?" asked Kasumi.

Naomi blinked and glanced around. "Yes, why?"

Kasumi flashed a smile. "You've been standing and staring at that cab for a couple of minutes now."

Naomi shook her head to clear it. "Sorry, lots on my mind."

"I could tell."

She flushed slightly before continuing, more aggressively than she had intended. "Alright. Let's get on with this. Problem, Garrus?" He was examining her closely and she glanced over, shooting him a stern look.

"Nothing, Shepard," Garrus shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"I wasn't worried about…"

"That's not what I meant," he replied, kindly.

"Oh…" Naomi coughed. "Anyway we'll just…we'll get this job done, see if she needs anything else and then try and go find this assassin. Now let's see…" She busied herself with her omnitool for a few moments to try and hide the embarrassment of being noticed like that; there were bigger things to worry about than her personal problems with Liara. With a little searching she quickly found the first terminal and hacking it was a pleasant diversion for a few moments as it required her full concentration; her omnitool quickly guiding her to the first unsecured server and it was child's play to link it into Liara's systems.

Naomi turned to start searching for the next terminal. A simple job, but if it helped Liara out she'd happily do it. For a moment she wondered exactly how things had gone two years before to make the asari so focussed and so…changed. Then she decided that she really, really didn't want to know unless Liara felt the need to tell her, it would undoubtedly be painful and she had absolutely no intention of drawing that kind of pain out of her lover. Finding the second terminal she set to work hacking through the defences and then quickly hunted down the connected server to link that through as well. Just one more left.

Briefly she lost herself in her thoughts again. Liara had been happy to see her, Naomi told herself, she was just busy with something. The two of them would have plenty of time to work things out but right now Liara had another priority that had to be taken care of; hell didn't she have the same? '_The Collectors_,' she thought to herself,_ 'focus damn it.' _She knew that was more important than her petty problems, but still the whole thing bothered her slightly. Unfortunately Naomi knew she would just have to put up with that feeling until the Collectors were dealt with.

The third terminal was cracked and the server found as easily as the first two. All told she was surprised at quite how easily the whole thing was achieved. The security systems in place were reasonable, but absolutely no match for the military-grade decryption and hacking built into her omnitool. Naomi idly wondered whether this might turn out to be a key lead for Liara's self-assigned quest. It'd be nice to be able to help out in a definitive way, perhaps bring them closer again. Given the choice she would have gladly stayed on Illium to do anything she could to help, but Naomi knew her responsibilities were far too important for such idle flights of fancy.

She gestured to Kasumi and Garrus. "Come on; let's see if Liara has anything more for us. And we can see if she has anything more on the two recruits we're supposed to pick up as well now that she's had time. I know she'll have been looking into it on the side now I've asked." And she strode more confidently back in the direction of Liara's office. She may not be able to do anything to quickly rebuild their relationship, but she could at least help Liara out and show that she is still there for her love. No matter how frustrating it all was.

* * *

It was quiet on the crew deck, ship time it was night and the crew that weren't on duty were asleep. They'd departed Illium just two days before and were on course for Haestrom to find out what Tali was up to and, hopefully, recruit her to the cause. Naomi sat at the table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a datapad in the other, examining the information they had on the planet. She heard the swish of a door and turned to look.

"Oh, I'm sorry Commander. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here."

"Its ok, Miranda. Grab a cup, pull up a seat." Naomi dropped the pad and took a sip of her drink. "There's nothing useful on there anyway."

Miranda frowned slightly with disapproval but poured a cup and sat down. "Surely familiarising yourself with an environment before going in is surely something you should approve of."

Naomi sighed at that. "One of the things you learn quickly in N-school is to pick out the important details from a briefing. This…" She gestured to the pad. "…can be basically summarised as 'geth trying to shoot you and the star trying to kill you as well'. It sounds pretty nasty, but until I get down there I won't know exactly how nasty; so there's no point worrying too much about it."

"Your method of working is a little…different to what I'm used to, Shepard."

"You mean I'm not the Illusive Man with his sitting back somewhere safe and meticulously planning attempts to get us all killed by putting us in dangerous situations with no warning?"

"That's hardly fair, Shepard. He has his reasons…"

"With all due respect, Miranda. This crew's ability to react on the spot is the only thing which kept us and many others alive on Horizon. That was entirely his fault, the absolute bastard."

A loud voice floated around the corner. "That's what I've been saying all along. Bunch of assholes, the lot of them." Miranda groaned slightly, Naomi just smiled.

"Hey, Jack." The woman herself appeared.

"Hey. Thought it'd be empty up here and I'd grab something to eat in private. Oh well." She wandered over to the kitchen and started rooting in cupboards. "Don't like it when it's busy. I won't eat that crap Gardener calls food and fuck knows I don't want that bitch Kelly trying to psychoanalyse me or some shit again."

"I think you're beyond even her skills, Jack," replied Miranda icily.

"She already failed with you, cheerleader?" came the response.

Pointedly ignoring the angry young biotic, Miranda turned back to Naomi. "In any case what I was trying to say is although I may disagree with how you do things sometimes, I can't deny that it's working. You even managed to get that…" She pointed off towards where Jack was pulling stuff out of cupboards at random. "…to focus on the job."

"Hey, bitch. I heard that. I'm perfectly capable of doing a job if it means I get something out of it. And I'm getting access to Cerberus shit out of this, more than enough payment."

"Don't remind me. Anyway, Commander. The point is you need to focus on the job and ensure you keep yourself healthy. You haven't slept since Illium."

Naomi sighed. She knew it had only been a matter of time before someone noticed how bothered she was. Garrus had tried to bring it up the day before but had backed off when she asked for time to think. But the rest of the crew didn't know her as well so had taken a little longer, however nothing much got past her appointed second-in-command.

"I'm fine, Miranda," she replied shortly. "It's just a personal matter. I can handle it myself."

"Personal matter from Illium? You mean you had trouble with Doctor T'Soni? Commander, a problem for you is a problem for this crew, we can't afford…"

"Oh shut the fuck up," interrupted Jack, coming over with a heated container of an unidentifiable stew that she was poking at with a fork. She sat on the table and crossed her legs and spoke through a mouthful of food. "If she got a problem with some old friend or piece of ass or whoever the hell it is then why does it matter?"

Naomi blinked and looked at Jack, not sure whether to be offended or amused. Miranda narrowed her eyes. "Because, you drug-addled idiot, she's running this ship. So anything that might affect her performance might cause problems and I was TRYING to offer to help."

"Why the fuck would she want…"

"Thanks, both of you," cut in Naomi. "I'll be fine if I just have time to think. Liara still feels…guilty for all that happened two years ago. Not sure she made the right decisions. And she wants revenge as well."

"Now that I can understand," mumbled Jack, fork in her mouth. She pulled it out. "Someone pisses you off or fucks you over; you go smash their face in." Miranda shook her head in disgust.

"Commander, we need to concentrate on our current goal and…"

"I'm perfectly aware of that Miranda," Naomi said, standing and stretching. "It won't take very long to get to Haestrom and it'll be tough. We'll do that, get Tali and then plan our next move. Try not to kill each other before then."

"I'll try," agreed Jack. "But no promises."

"Of course, Commander. Although I'd be surprised to see her able to demonstrate any restraint at all," replied Miranda.

Jack gave her an evil look. "I'd say 'fuck you, I'll show you restraint'; but based on that outfit you'd probably say 'yes please', kinky slut."

Naomi fought to keep her face straight. "Fine. I'm going to get some rest." And she headed to the elevator, bursting into laughter as soon as the doors closed.

* * *

Naomi slumped into a seat in the shuttle, deactivating her visor and pulling it off before wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Damn it, I could FEEL that solar radiation even through my shields. Got enough trouble with the Geth without that trying to kill us as well," she complained out loud. Tali gave her a nod.

"The admiralty board had better make some use of all this," she replied, clearly down. Naomi looked over sympathetically.

"Tali…it wasn't your fault. You and all of them were just following orders. It could turn out to be important. I know you don't think it's worth it but…"

"I know, Shepard. I hope you're right," the quarian said miserably, staring at her feet. She suddenly looked up with forced brightness. "How are you? Since Freedom's Progress I mean." Naomi smiled at her, it was obvious that Tali was trying to take her mind off the dead marines they'd left behind and she was happy to oblige.

"Been better," the Spectre admitted. "Gathering allies, finding out what I can about these Collectors." She sneered slightly. "Trying to avoid being killed by the Illusive Man's 'calculated risks'."

"I don't even know why you're working with these people. I trust your judgement of course but…it's Ceberus!"

Naomi sighed. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. It just can't be helped, and I can't walk away from the colonists. If I don't help them, nobody will. And nobody else is even trying…"

Tali sat silently for a few moments, contemplating that. "How about your team?"

Naomi laughed. "All exceptionally skilled, but honestly it's a rag-tag bunch. I've got a ruthless and grizzled mercenary, a tank-grown Krogan and one of the most dangerous human biotic criminals in the galaxy on the engineering deck alone." She stopped to think for a while. "But they're good, very good…and I think I'm starting to get the hang of dealing with all of them. Starting to earn a little trust."

That got a nod. "If there's one thing I know about you, Shepard, it's that you're good at earning people's loyalties and handling them."

"Thanks, Tali. But it's still good to have people that I already know, makes things easier for me. I'm glad you're coming. The Normandy could use your expertise and I know I'll be happier with someone I know watching my back and giving me advice."

"It's fine. I'm happy to help. It'll be good to work with you again How's everyone from the old Normandy? Heard from any of them?"

"I've got Joker flying and Chakwas in medical. Garrus is on the team as well. Picked him up from Omega a little while back. I bumped into Ashley on Horizon but she wasn't happy. Not the most pleasant meeting; suffice to say she isn't with me and frankly I'm not sure we're even friends anymore. Wrex is on Tuchanka, trying to get the Krogan clans together; so he's too busy to come. Liara…I met her on Illium." Naomi stopped abruptly, her expression hardening. The shuttle settled into the cargo bay and she quickly stood up, exiting quickly.

"Well?" prompted Tali, following right behind her. "How's Liara?"

"Busy."

"You say you met her? How did that go?"

"Fine."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

Tali sighed. "Shepard, you can be a real bosh'tet when you want to be."

Naomi laughed harshly at that. "I suppose I can be." They stepped into the elevator.

After the door shut on the two of them Tali turned to her. "Talk to me," she said simply. Naomi glared across for a moment but rapidly stopped. Somehow that blank mask and calm voice was more disarming than most looks people had given her.

"It…didn't go great," she confessed. "Liara…well…it's been two years and she has her own things to deal with right now. She said she couldn't come with me and wouldn't really let me in except to do a couple of quick jobs to help her. I'd do anything, but it feels like I'm being shut out. She's hunting down the Shadow Broker and it's all because of me, I don't know the exact details. All I know is the Shadow Broker had me and wanted to sell me to the Collectors, and she took me and gave me to Cerberus."

Tali nodded thoughtfully and stayed silent for a few moments. Eventually she spoke quietly. "Liara was in a very bad way after we thought you were gone. Seeing you probably brought back unhappy memories."

Hesitating, Naomi considered this as the elevator on the CIC deck and the doors opened. She led the way to the briefing room to show her what they had. Jacob was there already, and after showing the small amount of information he made an attempt to welcome her. Tali was having none of it and quickly shut him down much to Naomi's amusement and turned to leave.

"Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's new artificial intelligence," said Jacob, with a final misguided attempt to be polite. Tali just stared at him for a moment before leaving.

Naomi shook her head. "Smooth work there, Jacob. She's quarian, remember?" Jacob's eyes went wide as he realised what he'd said.

"Well she had to find out sooner rather than later, right?"

"Little more tact next time, hey?" Naomi followed Tali out and managed to catch up as she entered the elevator. Wordlessly she stopped the quarian from selecting engineering and instead pressed the button for her own cabin.

When they reached it she opened the door with her omnitool and gestured to a seat whilst she fed her fish. Tali sat quietly as Naomi stared into the fishtank for a few minutes. At length she turned and sat down as well. "Tell me about what happened after I was gone. With Liara, I mean."

That got a nod. "She withdrew into herself. Cut herself off. Finding out what had happened to you become an obsession. Blocking out everything else. Then she disappeared, evidently she found something that led her to you." Then a shrug. "After that I don't know. You know more than I do. But know this, Shepard. Given how much she wanted to find you and how bad she was in your absence, however she's acting now is just her covering up how she feels because she doesn't know what to do about it or how to express it. She's hiding it to focus on something important. A lot can happen in two years, but I remember how she felt and someone doesn't just get over that so quickly."

Naomi slumped back and eventually nodded in turn. "Thanks, Tali. I thought…but it's better to hear it from someone else." She sighed. "What am I DOING? She doesn't need me keeping out of her way. She needs my reassurance and support. I'm an idiot."

Tali laughed at that. "Perhaps. But personally I think you're both being stupid hiding things away. In the flotilla everyone already knows each other's business; I think it might be better that way, having it in the open."

Naomi chuckled in response. "Not sure I could live like that Tali, so hard to keep secrets." She took a deep breath. "I'll go and see her again, when I get the chance…"

"Commander, the Illusive Man wants to see you," interrupted an electronic voice.

"…which evidently won't be now." Naomi groaned and put a hand over her eyes as Tali laughed. "I'll be right there, EDI. Tali, if the people in engineering give you any trouble give me a shout, but I doubt there'll be a problem. They're ok people, give them a chance."

Tali nodded slowly. "I will, Shepard. For you. But you have to promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"Don't…trust…Cerberus. Especially not your Illusive Man. Individuals may be nice, but this is an organisation which has done terrible things. And HE is the one who runs it all."

Naomi took her hand and gave it a brief squeeze. "Don't worry, Tali. I'll be careful, I promise. For all of our sakes. If it's ever a choice between Cerberus and doing the right thing, I'll choose the latter."


End file.
